Convention Recap: Akon 26 in Dallas, TX

First off, let me say “what a con!” I truly had a blast at Akon this year, so let’s recap the madness. It was about a 12 hour drive from Sioux Falls to Dallas. I actually really enjoy long drives, something zen about driving and gives me plenty of time to think about stuff.

I arrived at the con at about noon on Friday. Getting my badge was a painless process and I also met some of the con staff. I spent a bit of time checking out the con and getting reacclimatized to where everything is. I missed Akon last year. I also scored some autographs before my panel.

The time came for my panel on Friday night and it went really well. I got to show off my newly designed slides and the audience had a good time looking at some bad CGI and discussing what we all have and have not seen. (Picture of the attendees below)

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I went to check out another panel, this one on podcasting, before taking off for the night and getting some rest before Saturday.

Saturday was a day full of panels and awesomeness. I met up with one of my friends and we attended a panel on translating manga. Little did we know, the panel head was also a translator who was going to be leading a Q/A session with Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the “I” in Production IG. He displayed some unseen materials and promos from some of their works and answered questions about Production IG, the anime industry and anything else we wanted to ask. He was even so gracious to allow us to take a few pictures afterwards.

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(Me on the left, Ishikawa on the right)

Production IG had some influential titles when I was first getting into anime. Ghost in the Shell was one of the first anime that I saw. This really was an amazing experience, and truly an honor to hear his opinions on the industry.

I attended a panel on voice acting, since I am looking for voice over talent. It was very informational since the panel was run by 3 different people and all came from different backgrounds, directorial, voice over for anime and voice over for gaming. Very cool stuff!

My friend and I grabbed a late lunch and checked out some more panels. One of which, was the Vertical panel on manga. They are the company that brought us the Flowers of Evil manga, which I highly suggested on this blog for just about anyone to read.

Sunday I allowed myself to be a little bit of a fan. I waited in line to get some Attack on Titan stuff signed by the voice actors. I went to the vendor room and picked up some merchandise, or should I say a mini library of art books. My love of art books may have to come in another post, but I picked up the following books.

Attack on Titan 1-4
These books contain the storyboards for several of the episodes and even show frame by frame drawings.

Kill La Kill
Admittedly, I haven’t actually finished this series yet but I had to pick up the book regardless. The show has such a unique style that I wanted to dive into behind the scenes content. I also haven’t seen this book anywhere before.

Terror in Resonance
I am excited for this show to be released at some point, but the overall design of this book was fantastic. I love looking at the background elements and seeing the hand painted detail. It even has a cool character flowchart to see how all of the characters are related to one another in the show.

Shinkai Collection
Speaking of sexy art books, the Shinkai book I picked up was fantastic. His artwork is simply stunning and again, the format of the book alone is worth a purchase.

I haven’t had a chance to really dive into all of these books, but as I get going through them I will get some comments or reviews of them up. I am eagerly awaiting Akon next year already.

And to the Akon staff, a big thank you for all of your work and planning!

 

Recent Reading: Flowers of Evil Volume 11

The day has finally come, the release date for the final volume of Flowers of Evil by Shuzo Oshimi. For the duration of the series, I have been long praising it as a model for character development and emotional artwork. Volume 11 added a new reason to read the series, Oshimi’s amazing ability to tell a story without relying on dialogue. There is a phrase in the comic and manga world “Show, don’t tell” and the final installment of Flowers of Evil does just that.

There are chunks of pages where the character expressions and environments tell the story so well that words are not needed. Truly amazing and strongly suggested as a series from me.

I got into the manga series after I watched the anime series and since the series wasn’t getting an ending, I needed to dig into the manga to get a resolution. I will admit, there were a couple volumes that had me a little concerned with how the story was going to play out, but the resolution was solid and didn’t leave me with any regrets or empty hands.

Volume 11 of Flowers of Evil has a chapter with some fantastic artwork that is very stylized. The stylization of the artwork works well since it is the way of a character telling a story.

After wrapping up the Flowers of Evil, I can whole-heartedly recommend this title to anyone, volume 11 did nothing to change my feelings on the piece. You can pick up all the volumes from Vertical.

Recent Reading: The Flowers of Evil Volume 10

July is here already and there is no better way to start the month off with a new volume of Shuzo Oshimi’s The Flowers of Evil series. I apologize for being wrong in my last post about the series, it looks like volume 10 was out sooner than I expected and it isn’t the final volume!

One of the biggest things that stood out to me with this book is the artwork. The cover of the book is absolutely gorgeous.

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The cover really prepares you for some awesome artwork inside. In particular there is a 2 page spread towards the end of the book that maybe rivals some of the imagery in the earlier books where Nakamura and Kasuga are in the school at night.

At times I would get lost in the art, looking at the grittiness of the hatching in several shots. The environmental shots are amazing, it is one of the best parts of manga, they tend to focus more on settings. Several areas in the book have periods where you get to look at the artwork instead of reading word balloon after word balloon.

This series really hits on the storytelling notion “show not tell”. The facial expressions and more aid the lack of text. Seeing a characters reaction is more powerful than being told how the character is feeling. This might be one of the best volumes I have read.

Seriously though, I can’t get enough of the art in this series, my words don’t do it justice.

In terms of story, after volume 9 I felt a big plot twist was needed or some more conflict. While I think volume 10 may have wandered in one section a bit, the progression of the story was sufficient and didn’t leave me disappointed. Who knows, the area that I felt wandered a bit, could still have a role in the story in future volumes, it’s one of the downsides of reviewing volumes as they come out and not the story as a whole. So take that personal feeling about the story with a grain of salt.

I am very high on The Flowers of Evil, I haven’t had a series keep me this engaged for a while. Very excited for the next volume from Vertical.

Recent Reading: Flowers of Evil Volume 9

The Flowers of Evil series from Vertical continues on with the recent release of volume 9. Personally, I was really excited for this volume to get released, I was heavily anticipating where Shuzo Oshimi was going to take the story. If you haven’t checked out this series yet, you have the summer to catch up before volume 10 is released. The series is worth checking out.

Now, after having said that, I am in a tough position to review volume 9, since I believe volume 10 is the final in the series. So of course this volume won’t have a major plot twist, or some other revelation since the impact of the story will be felt in the final volume.

There was a noticeable punch to the story, but in my opinion, it felt a little forced. I say that, because I feel like volume 9 could have skipped part of the beginning and jumped right into the plot point. Instead I feel like it wasted some time by trying to cram extra content in the first couple chapters, instead of fleshing out some more detail or character interaction.

Volume 9 also seemed to have much less dialogue as the other volumes, which means additional artwork with no text over the top, allowing the artwork to really shine. There are several environments and shots that you can really get lost in the line work, something that I don’t think you can do a lot of with current manga, simply due to the use of tones.

As a stand alone volume of manga, Flowers of Evil may not be the best read. However, it does frame up the final volume well. It is a bit unfair to say the volume is boring since it does the job of preparing you for the closing of the story in next volume, which is set up to be one of the more interesting finales in my recent media consumption.

Recent Reading: The Flowers of Evil Volume 8

I have made it 8 volumes into The Flowers of Evil series, and I must say, it is easily one of my favorite titles in a long time. The character development has been very intriguing. However, when we left the story in volume 7, we were introduced to a new cast of characters for Kasuga to interact with.

I will admit that volume 7 left me a little curious with what direction the story was going to go, volume 8 didn’t disappoint. A new character is introduced, Koji, who is Tokiwa’s boyfriend. Tokiwa introduces Kasuga and Koji outside her house. You can catch a glimpse of a jealous side to Koji as the characters begin to talk and get acquainted. The characters decide to go and hangout; Kasuga reluctantly.

Tokiwa, Koji and Kasuga meet up with other characters in a shack and have a discussion. As the conversation progresses, it shifts more towards getting answers from Kasuga about personal topics. Tokiwa comes to rescue Kasuga and ends the conversation.

Following the events of the group hangout, Kasuga and Tokiwa decide to go out and talk about books and writing. Kasuga is enamored with Tokiwa’s writing and urges her to finish her story. While leaving the area, Kasuga runs into a person from his past Saeki. We learn that it has been three years since the events in the first 6 volumes. Saeki and Kasuga meet up at the end of the volume and talk. The topic of their discussion really sets up volume 9 and has me totally sucked in again, which is out in April.

Recent Reading: The Flowers of Evil Volume 7

The previous volume left our characters, Nakamura and Kasuga, on their way to the summer festival to unleash their plan on the city. We see how dark their actual plan is as it starts to unfold. However, not all goes according to plan.

There is a little bit of a time jump in the story that moves us forward to Kasuga’s new home in Saitama. Kasuga’s family left the countryside after the events of the plan and Kasuga started at a new school. he has no idea where Nakamura is as well, since she also left the countryside. Kasuga is left struggling to deal with the unknown whereabouts of his friend.

Kasuga struggles to assimilate into his new life. That is, until he is invited to an after school event by some of his fellow classmates, both boys and girls. Kasuga opens up a little but we know he still misses his former comrade, Nakamura.

While walking home, Kasuga stumbles across a bookstore and runs into one of the karaoke classmates. They start to talk over books and Kasuga starts to appear happy again. The volume wraps up with each of them suggesting books to one another and sharing titles.

Volume 7 was a little bit of a transitional volume which left some things to be desired. We wrapped up the first arc and moved to a new location with lots of new characters that we need to leaner more about. To be honest, I was a little bummed that we no longer get to see the characters that we watched grow over the previous 6 volumes. However, volume 7 does end with a very interesting twist that has me very eager to read volume 8!

Recent Reading: The Flowers of Evil Volume 6

The Flowers of Evil is starting to pick up steam, we last left off with volume 5 and a pivotal scene in the story (at least in my opinion). Our main cast of characters, Saeki, Nakamura and Kasuga, all collided as a result of the plan Kasuga and Nakamura were scheming, which was foiled by Saeki.

Volume 6 starts off with Kasuga panicking over the foiled plan. The summer festival is approaching quickly and he needs to plan something to unleash on the countryside with Nakamura. Looking back on Kasuga’s personality, you can see a definite growth and change since the first volume of the series. Kasuga even goes as far as getting into arguments with his parents instead of obeying their wishes. A blatant influence from Nakamura and her control of his emotions.

Saeki keeps inserting herself into Kasuga’s life, trying to win him back and be a good influence in his life. If you recall the start of Kasuga and Saeki’s relationship, Kasuga almost worshipped Saeki. At this point, there is nothing Saeki can do to gain more control of Kasuga. After their interaction, it seems as if Saeki starts to realize that she has lost.

Kinoshita even confronts Kasuga with everything. The main plot point of volume six revolves around the events at the end of volume 5. Kasuga starts to feel the school, city and his family start to turn on Nakamura and even start to blame his actions on her influence. Kasuga starts to feel trapped to feel trapped by the whole situation.

As Kasuga toils in his emotions, Nakamura comes to his house to take him away. After a confrontation with Kasuga’s parents, the two leave the house to formulate a new plot for the summer festival. Once again, we see Kasuga and Nakamura alone and we get an idea of how Kasuga and Nakamura work together and how the relationship works. Nakamura has complete control over Kasuga.

Volume 6 closes as Kasuga and Nakamura show up for the summer festival. A plan has been formulated and the two characters are there to make it a reality.

Recent Reading: The Flowers of Evil Volume 3

My review of the series The Flowers of Evil from Vertical continues with volume 3. When we left off with volume 2, Kasuga and Nakamura were becoming closer and Kasuga was developing behaviors and thoughts similar to Nakamura’s. Especially the idea of being trapped in a dead end countryside city, full of people hiding their true selves.

The volume opens with the entire school abuzz over their discovery in school. Meanwhile, Saeki starts to learn of a deeper bond between Kasuga and Nakamura than she ever imagined. With suspicion mounting, the relationship between Kasuga and his dream girl, Saeki starts to get rocky.

Kasuga is torn between the two lives he feel he has and struggles to choose which path is the correct one for him. While Kasuga is battling within himself, Nakamura and Saeki start to interact with one another leading to a glimpse into the rivalry these two feel towards one another.

As Saeki tries to pull Kasuga down her path, Kasuga panics and flees towards where he feels safe, with Nakamura. Nakamura is able to persuade Kasuga into attempting to leave the countryside together. What Kasuga doesn’t know, is that Saeki is franticly looking for him back in the city, until she finds out the two of them were leaving the area.

The end of volume 3 features all three classmates on the mountainside pouring their emotions out while it storms. A fitting scene for the mixed emotions each character has within. It is during this exchange that we get to see more of the characters, in particular, Kasuga and Saeki.

The artwork keeps up with the rest of the volumes thus far. The facial expressions in the series; simply beautiful. The simpler art style allows for more emotion to come through since the artwork isn’t darkened up with a heavy use of tones.

Recent Reading: The Flowers of Evil Vol 2

This week we continue our review of The Flowers of Evil series, volume 2 in particular from Vertical. If you haven’t checked out the review of the first volume, you can see that here.

Volume 2 sticks close to the anime series if you watched it online via crunchyroll. The contract between Kasuga and Nakamura continues, only things get a little complicated since Saeki starts to play a more pivotal role in the series. Saeki and Kasuga go out on a date and begin a relationship all while Kasuga is hiding his secret of the gym uniform from the first volume. Nakamura starts to interact more with Saeki as well playing the role of a potential instigator by telling Kasuga something about Saeki that may turn out to be a lie. In a way, Kasuga starts to develop a second life. His first being the book nerd student at school who is dating Saeki, one of the prettiest girls in school. The second life involves him sneaking around with Nakamura and keeping his secret buried. A secret that plants the seed of an inner struggle.

As the story progresses we can see more and more of the characters dynamics intertwine and how they are starting to develop for the rest of the series. We get more of an insight to the dynamic between Nakamura and Kasuga that begins to show deeper layers than just the contract that was agreed upon that I can only assume will get deeper as the story evolves. The relationship between Kasuga and Saeki is just starting to get underway and should start to be expanded on in future volumes.

Kasuga and Nakamura have their own inner struggles and we catch glimpses of each. Kasuga is torn on what type of person he is and the battle is played out over his choice of which female classmate he wants to be with. Nakamura feels trapped and suffocated in the countryside town the characters live in. This trapped feeling is something that Nakamura feeds to Kasuga and he starts to feel suffocated by the countryside.

The second volume closes on a notable scene with some great artwork. The scene is beautifully animated in the series and plays an interesting dynamic in the future of the story (at least it did in the anime series and assuming the manga and anime continue to parallel one another). The scene is important for more than just the beautiful artwork, in a way it solidifies Nakamura and Kasuga as a unit instead of two individuals.

We get more of an inside glimpse into the characters in volume 2 and each of the characters are becoming deeper, meaning we are allowed to see more of their character and what drives or frustrates them, and the few things that make them happy.

Recent Reading: The Flowers of Evil Vol 1

I have been trying to catch up on some reading and I had to revert back to volume 1 of “The Flowers of Evil” by Shuzo Oshimi since it has been a while and I had to get caught back up. I reviewed the anime a while back and since the chances of a season 2 are probably pretty slim, I wanted to see the story to the end and picked up the manga. Here is the volume 1 cover.

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One of the first things you will notice is the lighter art style. The artwork doesn’t get bogged down with a heavy use of tones. Here is an image of the manga art but also the side-by-side anime adaptation as well.

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As for the story, it revolves around Kasuga who lives in a small town in rural Japan. He loves books and he feels that no one really understands his love and knowledge for books.
One day while walking home from school with his friends, he realizes he forgot his book back at school and turns back to go get it. While back at the classroom he sees that someone forgot their gym clothes in the school. Kasuga walks over and checks them out; discovering that they belonged to a girl in class he likes Saeki. Suddenly, Kasuga hears a noise and in his moment of panic runs out of the school with the gym uniform all the way back home. Kasuga finds himself in a whole new predicament when he finds out a girl in class witnessed him take them clothes, Nakamura. Nakamura promises Kasuga his secret is safe with her as long as he enters into a contract with her. Kasuga must now obey Nakamura or his secret will be known by everyone in class.

One of my favorite aspects of this series is the character development. The manga and anime remain true to one another in that regards and so far the manga and anime seem to be on the same storyline for the first volume. I also enjoy some of the artist’s notes throughout the book as he usually mentions real-life inspiration behind some of the scenes, people and authors that are mentioned in the story.

I will be posting up further reviews on the series. If you are currently reading the series, volume 8 will be out in early January from Vertical.